Wish I had some good news...

Heard from the nurse and my progestrone level is 7 and should be a 15. I dont know exactly what that means, but am going to do some research here shortly. She called in a prescription for me that I will start today, and will take 2 each day. Hopefully this will get my levels high enough to where I could hold a pregnancy, if the IUI took. She said the levels right now should be 15 and if/when I'm pregnant they want my levels to be at a 20. She said that the levels dont mean anything as far as if the IUI took or not, and has had someone w/ a level as low as a 3 be pregnant. She is having me go in for blood work Thurs regardless, and said we should know something Thurs, Friday, or Sat. uggggh!!!

I have really tried staying positive and this just sucks.. it really brings me down and since I'm emotional as it is (and sleep deprived), it really just brings me to tears. I want this SO bad. Its not fair that we have to go through this when there are crackheads out there getting pregnant.. babies being born addicted to drugs (poor things!). Its just not fair! Ok, pity party over. ha!

WHAT?

One more week!?!?! Ugggggh!!! Ok so I must have completely mis-understood the nurse when I had my IUI last Thurs. I asked her if the waiting period is the same as when you are just trying, 2 week wait. She told me that I would come in for a blood test today so I assumed it would be the test to find out if the IUI took or not, WRONG!! Today I went in for the blood work only to find out and make sure my progestrone levels are ok, and if they're not I'll have to get one some medication to get my levels up.

Luckily it wasnt quite so much of a let down cause I talked with someone going through her 3rd IUI last night and she gave me the breakdown of events following the IUI. I'm SO thankful I talked to her last night cause I would have gone in today expecting to hear some news and been pretty let down. This whole waiting thing just really sucks, let me tell ya! ha ha. I'm staying positive though and praying every day that its our turn to have a family. :D

I called and talked to the nurse today to find out what I need to do from here. She said she would call me as soon as she has the progestrone levels back and then next Thurs (04/09) I take a home pregnacy test. If it's positive I go in that morning for blood test. If its negative, she said to wait a couple more days and re-test or I'll start my period and know its a negative. 7 more days seems like a lifetime, but then when I really think about it.. in 7 days, we might be starting our new life into parenthood and have a little blessing in my belly.. so in the big scheme of things, 7 days is totally worth the wait!

Talking to Sara, who is a friend of my bf Ashley, was really helpful. I have been having MAJOR pregnancy symptoms lately and as I said before, I swear I can force myself to have symtoms. I really didnt want to say anything about it cause I thought I was just being crazy! ha ha. Sara confirmed that she had the same exact symptoms and said they are from the shot Chadd gave me in my stomach, prior to the IUI. Ahhh haaaaa!!! Apparantly, the shot is a pregnancy hormone so between that and Clomid I'm cranky, a little bitchy (Chadd might say ALOT), tired, sore upper area (if you know what I mean), hungry (which I am always anyway), oh this list could go on and on.

Thank you to everyone for all the loving prayers!!! We appreciate it more than you know!! Lots of Love to all!

Longest week of my life...

really.. could this week go by any slower? Even with the busiest weekend, it just seemed to creep by. Of course when you're wanting for a day to be here, it seems to take much longer.

Friday night my friend Michelle got married!!! She was such a BEAUTIFUL bride!! We met at boot camp last Jan/Feb and just hit it off.. we are SO much alike! I am so jealous that she is in Hawaii right now for 10 days but wish her the best honeymoon ever!! CONGRATS MRS JONES!

Sat I worked a wedding with Tami.. the wedding was out in decatur and for the 1st time in a LONG time we only coordinated- YAH!! That meant no set up and no take down.. so when the wedding was over, we got to leave!! Course we had an hour and 1/2 drive home and it was already midnight but as always, I had blast working with Tami (& Jen too but she was at a diff wedding this time ::sad face::). Its not like a "job" to me at all.. its more like I get to hang out w/ my friends and do what I love, wedding stuff!! :D

Sunday morning I took pics of Tami and her family.. I cant wait to go through them all 250 pics cause I got some really cute ones of the family and the girls!! They are sooo precious. After the pics, we went to Carson's 2nd birthday party!! He is growing up so fast and is such a doll baby. The birthday party was at Pump It Up and I was sooooo sad that I didnt get to participate. I probably could have, but w/ my recent IUI I didnt even want to risk it. Then Sunday night I took pics of my best friend Andrea, her son, her boyfriend Ben and his son. I got some really GREAT ones of them too and should have some posted on my photo blog this week sometime. Thanks friends for letting me be a part of your family photos, I cant wait for ya'll to see them! :D

There goes another long weekend.. Thursday cant come soon enough!!!

I heart "pouty" faces & pets

Here's my kiddo entry for week 12:

All 4 pounds of my little baby girl.. she has an outfit for every occassion :D :D Here's Piper in her Christmas dress:



click on the button to join in on the fun and see the other amazing photographers

That much closer..

The IUI went great today!! Nurse said the "stuff" Chadd brought in this morning was GREAT so hopefully this first one will take. It wasnt as bad as the HSG test I had done in Jan, thats for sure.. but it was definately uncomfortable with a little cramping. More cramping and a few sharp pains came afterwards, but it will all be worth a little one in the near future :D

So here's how it went down today:

Let me first start off my saying I think I might have slept for like 5 min last night.. I guess I was just really anxious and quite honestly a little scared too. I can definately scare myself into anything, if I read enough horror stories about it. Its definately a weakness of mine. So anyway, we drop off the "stuff" this morning at 730am. We went to a coffee shop, Chadd got a coffee and we chilled out for about 20 min before we had to get back to the dr's ofc. Our scheduled appt was 830am. We get back to the office and are taken back into the room.. yes "we". Chadd wanted to be in the room during the procedure. The nurse inserts the catheter with the specimen in through my cervix into my uterus. Apparantly my cervix opening is very small and she said thats probably why the HSG hurt so bad. She could barely get the catheter through my cervix. She finally got it in and released the specimen, and thats when the cramping occurs. Its only like a 10 second ordeal so she is in and out pretty quickly. After inserting the specimen, she tilted the table backwards almost like I was upside down. I had to lay there for 20 minutes but ended up there for about 30+ cause she lost track of time. I told her it was just more time for the spermies to swim for the eggs, ha ha :D So, afterwards I felt a little cramping and some slight sharp pains. When I got home I took some Ibprofin and took a little nap.. when I woke up I was totally ok and headed into work. Definately not as bad as I thought, but hoping I dont have to go through it again. Its emotional, getting expensive, and most of all I'm just ready to be a MOMMY!

Thank you everyone for the sweet texts this morning and many prayers!! I go back next Thurs morning for a blood test, where they will check my progestrone and find out if the IUI took. Please keep us in your prayers this week.. I am betting this week goes by super duper slow!! Lots of Love to all!!

I'm ready...

for tomorrow!! Chadd gave me the shot last night.. which honestly the needle was so small I barely felt it at all. There was a little bit of a sting right afterwards but nothing I couldnt handle, believe it or not.. ha ha!!

This morning I did the ovulation test and had my spike YAH!!! So, everything is on track just as the nurse had timed out and the IUI is going to be done at the perfect time tomorrow!

I did some reading yesterday about follicles and the IUI. From what I read the amt of follicles I have (3) is normal so that is good... the size of the BIG one is the perfect size, I think around 23mm. The other 2 were much smaller.. I dont remember the size of them but they were between 12-14. They should at least be around 16-18.. but I also read that they continue to grow up until the time I ovulate, which will either be tomorrow or Friday. Hopefully they will grow some more between now and then. Also the shot I took last night should boost them and might make them bigger and create good eggs. Crossing my fingers..

I haven't been able to sleep.. between photoshopping in my dreams all night long (YES I do, isnt that funny?) and worrying over the IUI.. not so much for the procedure cause I read its not so bad.. but worrying that it wont take and we'll have to go through this again. I wouldnt wish any of this on my worst enemy.. its just heart renching every month that goes by. Just still keeping the faith, trying to stay positive, and hoping it takes the 1st time ! I'll keep everyone updated after the IUI tomorrow!! I'll go back next Friday for a blood test to see if it took!!

I heart faces - No flash!

I'm entering in the photo contest at the I Heart Faces blog. A beautiful little Princess! :D

Beautiful Erika!

Check out the blog.. click here to see all the other amazing photos and/or to join in on the fun!!!

Sonogram

So.. we had the sonogram this morning. Chadd asked if I wanted him to come.. since it was just the sonogram I told him it was totally up to him.. and he wanted to. I had told him about my last sonogram and I think he wanted to see what it was all about. He came in the sonogram room with me and the nurse faced the screen so we could both see. She showed us my uterus, explained to me about my lining (which is thickening just right!), and then went to each of my ovaries. GOOD NEWS.. I have 2 follicles in my left ovary and 1 BIG one in my right ovary!! The nurse said it looks GREAT and we're ready for the IUI! YAH!!!!! (What's an IUI? click here)

After the sonogram we went and talked with the nurse to get the IUI scheduled. She asked if I could give myself a shot and Chadd willingly said he would give it to me!! Ugggggh!!! Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE needles and normally pass out at the sight of them... so this should be interesting, ha ha!! So, tonight at 10:30pm Chadd will have to give me a shot in my stomach, which is a boost for me ovulating. She has it timed just right for the IUI that we scheduled for 8:30am Thurs morning! SO excited and scared all at the same time!! When I had the HSG done (read more on HSG), it was the worst pain EVER.. and I'm afraid this will feel about the same. It'll all be worth it though in the long run and I'm just staying positive about it and will try my hardest to relax myself Thurs morn to take the pain off.

We're hoping and praying this takes the 1st round so we dont have to do this for another 2 months. Thank you for all the continued prayers!! We truly have the greatest circle of family and friends!! We are very thankful!!

On my way..

to being a Mommy!! :D :D

So I went Sat to the appt and the sonogram showed everything looked good! The nurse went over the plan with me and I was scheduled to get started! Here's the plan:

Days 5-9 (Mon - Frid) : I started Clomid on Monday and will be on it for 5 days

Day 11 (Sunday) : start my ovulation kit. This tells me when I should be ovulating.

Day 13 (Tuesday 03/24) : I have an appt early am to go in for another sonogram. They will look to see if there is an egg ready to drop. If there is, they will give me a shot that will make me ovulate. We will schedule the IUI for the next day. If there is not an egg ready to drop, we will wait til I get a spike in my ovulation kit and will shedule the IUI for the day after the spike.

We are REALLY excited about all of this!!! We have been going on for months and months of dr's appt, test, dr's appt, another 2 tests, dr's appt, more tests... its extremly frustrating! I'm just SO excited to finally be at a point where we are doing something that can actually cause us to get pregnant instead of trying to figure out what's wrong!! Say some prayers for us cause next wk for sure will be our IUI and in a couple wks we might be pregnant!!! YAH!! YAH!! YAH!!

"Mommy"

You have no idea how badly I would love to hear that word.. I have never posted anything about this issue but now that pretty much everyone knows what we're going through, I figured why not.. It's our life and its what we're going through. Maybe by writing about it, it'll make me feel better about the situation and get some of my emotions out there.

Chadd and I have been trying for about a year 1/2, not technically a year 1/2 but well over 12 cycles. Those trying for a baby will understand what I'm talking about :D We have gone through many testings, Dr's appts, and have been placed in the category of "unknown infertility". We've done everything we can do to get preg thus far; electronic ovulation monitor, ovulation kits, temperature/cycle tracking.. it just hasnt happened for us yet. Dr says some infertility issues just cant be explained, especially when all the tests are coming back normal (which I'm totally thankful for!).

So, we got some good and bad news today.. We'll start w/ the Bad: I had bloodwork done last week and my progestrone was borderline low (9.4 supposed to be at least 10 or higher). Good news: They are starting me on Clomid (which helps w/ the progestrone) and we're starting IUI's this month!! YAH!!! I'm realllly excited for this and I really feel in my heart that this will work!!! For those who dont know what that is.. an IUI is where they take his "stuff", clean it out, then they take the good "stuff" and put it in my uterus when I'm ovulating. Click here to read on it.

I'm going in Sat morning for a sonogram where they'll check my follicals (sp?) and then we'll get started on the Clomid. They will then get me ready for an IUI this month and will continue IUI's for 3 months. If it doesnt work, then we'll take a different path. Please keep us in your prayers, as we want this SO badly and are so ready to be a Mommy and Daddy. I will say that when I finally get pregnant, it will be the BIGGEST blessing from God!! Thanks for all the love and support we have received from all our family and friends.. we are so thankful for all of you in our lives!! We couldnt get through this w/out you guys! I'll definately keep everyone posted!

Prayers for my friend Kacey, who is going through fertility issues as well.. She is the one who has gotten me through all of this.. Her positive look on life and God has meant the world to me! I cant wait til the day she has news to share!!! Hopefully we'll get pregnant together, that would be SO much fun!!! :D :D